Eagles And Raiders Are Unfamiliar Foes With Plenty Of Familiar Faces

PHILADELPHIA - Typically, the Raiders, whether Oakland, Los Angeles, or Las Vegas, are not a familiar foe for the Eagles.

The two teams have only met 14 times, with the most high-profile being Super Bowl XV, Philadelphia’s first appearance in the big game after the 1980 season.

At that time, the then-Oakland Raiders were an NFL heavyweight at the end of the spectacular John Madden-Tom Flores run and upended the Dick Vermeil Eagles 27-10, becoming the first Wild Card team to win the Lombardi Trophy.

Overall, the two franchises have met just 14 times and are deadlocked at 7-7, with the Raiders topping the Eagles 33-22 in 2021, the last meeting between the two teams.

In many ways, that game was the turning point of Nick Sirianni’s first season as head coach.

There was the one-and-done talk, and flowers were thrown at the Eagles’ mentor while leaving the Allegiant Stadium field, a nod to his now-famous flower analogy motivational speech that went over like gangbusters in the locker room but was spun 180 degrees from that by many on the outside.

What the Eagles began to figure out in Vegas was that they should lean into the running game and Jalen Hurts’ plus-one impact on it.

The rest is history, with Philadelphia going on to win seven of 10 to make the playoffs. From there, it’s been three more playoff appearances, two Super Bowl berths, and a Super Bowl LIX championship.

Opposite Directions

Jul 24, 2025; Henderson, NV, USA; Las Vegas Raiders offensive coordinator Chip Kelly during training camp press conference at the Intermountain Healthcare Performance Center. | Kirby Lee-Imagn Images

Meanwhile, the Raiders are downtrodden entering Sunday’s 15th all-time encounter at Lincoln Financial Field. A 2-11 team that fired offensive coordinator and former Eagles head coach Chip Kelly.

Even though Sunday will be the first time the Raiders and Eagles have met in over four years, there’s plenty of familiarity between the two organizations.

The most obvious is quarterback Kenny Pickett, who was Hurts’ backup last season and will be starting Sunday for the Raiders in the place of the injured Geno Smith.

A South Jersey native who grew up an Eagles fan, Pickett took the final snap of the Eagles’ Super Bowl LIX blowout win over Kansas City back in February.

Pickett’s opportunity in Philadelphia is not only about one game, it’s proving to the rest of a QB-deficient league that he should be in the conversation to be a starter somewhere in 2026.

The ties between the two teams go far deeper than Pickett, however, and can be traced to two former Eagles’ personnel executives moving to Las Vegas this year: Brandon Hunt and Anthony Patch. Hunt is the Raiders vice president of player personnel under GM John Spytek, also a former Eagles' scout, and Patch is a senior personnel executive.

Counting the practice squad, the Raiders have six former recent Eagles on their roster: Pickett, defensive tackle Thomas Booker, linebacker Devin White, safeties Tristin McCollum and Terrell Edmunds, and tight end Albert Okwuegbunam.

The Eagles have three former Raiders, safety Marcus Epps, cornerback Jakorian Bennett, and DT Byron Young, on their roster.

Booker and Bennett were actually traded for each other this summer in what GM Howie Roseman felt was a deal from a position of strength for a need.

All of that makes the Raiders a rare opponnet but not an unfamilar one.

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